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Editing on Wikia is generally as simple as clicking the 'Edit' button on a page. Doing so will take you to an edit page where you can make changes to the page - such adding new information and media, correcting errors, or updating the formatting. Depending on whether you are logged in, you may receive a different editing experience: ; : Most anonymous and newer users will see the VisualEditor, a completely new editing experience based around showing you an accurate visual representation of your changes. ; : Other users will see the classic editor - this includes the older visual editing experience and basic source editing. Quick tips Once in an editor, you can use the available tools to quickly add and remove information, change the formatting, add new images and videos, update the page's layout and much more! Once you're done making your changes, just click the 'Publish' button to update the page. Don't be afraid if you 'break' anything. All edits to a page are stored in the , and if something does go wrong you can simply . Choosing an editor Logged in users can choose their default editor from a dropdown list in their (found ). Anonymous users will almost always see the VisualEditor by default. In a few specific cases, the VisualEditor may not be available on a particular community. Additionally, the alternative editors can still be found under the 'Edit' button dropdown - for example, you can still access the classic editor from the dropdown even if the VisualEditor is the default. Video tutorial: your first edit Ready to join in and make your first contribution? This video tutorial gives some tips on how to get started. =Templates= A template is a special type of page that has been designed so its content can be included in other pages. Since a given template can be included in many pages, it can help reduce duplication and promote a uniform style between pages. Templates can be useful for... * Creating content that should appear on many pages. * Formatting content (such as infoboxes) in a way that should be consistent across many pages. * Creating a shortcut for writing things that you repeat often when communicating with others. * Replacing long, complicated code so that a page is easier for other users to edit. * Protecting parts of a page from editing while leaving other sections open for edits. Video overview If you're new to templates, this video will help you get started. How to create a basic template Templates can be very powerful, but also sometimes very complicated. It often helps to start by creating the simplest possible kind of template, and then experimenting from there. * On your community, navigate to 'Template:Example' and click "Create". * Type "Hello, World" in the . * Click "Publish". You have just created a template with some sample content. * On your community, create a new article called "Template test". * In the editor, go to source mode and enter the following code: : * Click Publish. Your "Testing Templates" page should display the text you added to your template. You've successfully created and used a template! Now you can change the content of your template and add it to more pages to make it more useful for your community. Adding pre-existing templates New Wikia communities come with pre-loaded default templates. You can view a complete list of templates available on your community by going to and selecting "Template" from the namespace dropdown menu. Click "Go" and all available templates will appear in a list. * In the editor's visual mode, you can select from the list of all templates available on your community by clicking "Add other templates". * In source mode, you can use the code to add any template to your page. * Advanced users can edit the page MediaWiki:Editor-template-list to change the list of templates available by default in the "Templates" section of the editor. Up to four templates can be in this list. Advanced templates Template parameters Templates can have parameters - these allow you to alter the way the template is displayed, such as including specific text or altering the design. To take Template:Wikipedia as an example, adding just assumes that the page on Wikipedia is the same name as the page of the current page the template is used on. However, a parameter can be added, e.g. , to tell the template that the page on Wikipedia was Microsoft. To learn more about how to change the output of the template based on what the user inputs, see and . Substituting templates A different way to use a template is to substitute its content into a page. This is done by inserting subst: immediately after the opening braces: . Once the page is saved, the link to the template is removed and the template output is substituted in its place and can be further edited. Any updates to the template will not affect the content that was substituted into the page. To learn more, visit . Updating and adding standard templates The official and semi-official occasionally improve some of their documentation as well as adding new templates specifically designed for Wikia sites, and are therefore worth checking from time to time. Copying templates from other wikis Contributors throughout Wikia have made all different kinds of templates. It is often simpler to copy an existing template and modify it for your needs, rather than creating one from scratch. The Templates Wiki is a good place to start looking for a template that fits your needs. In most cases, you are free to copy templates based on the shared , but make sure the community you want to copy from does not have an alternative licensing scheme that may place restrictions on what you can copy. Here are some basic steps to copy most templates: # Find the template you want to copy (usually http://''wikiname''.wikia.com/wiki/Template:templatename). # Click the Edit button, select all of the and copy it. # Create a new template page on your community (http://''yourwiki''.wikia.com/wiki/Template:templatename?action=edit). # Paste the wikitext code you copied and press the Publish button. Many templates have a separate subpage for documentation about the template. Fortunately, the location is often standardized, so it is easy to copy the documentation as well. If you notice the template page you copied above does not look like the original, it is likely the documentation is on a separate subpage: # Find the template documentation you want to copy (usually http://''wikiname''.wikia.com/wiki/Template:templatename/doc). # Click the Edit button, select all the wikitext and copy it. # Create a new template documentation subpage page on your community (http://''yourwiki''.wikia.com/wiki/Template:templatename/doc?action=edit). # Paste the wikitext code you copied and press the Publish button. Template Webinar Looking for further video instruction? This webinar recording overviews the basics of adding and customizing templates for your community.